How to Write an Appeal Letter to Your Bank

Here’s a sample appeal letter to a bank, for you to use if you are unhappy with your bank’s decision. Writing an appeal letter to a bank may take time and effort, but it could be worth hundreds or even thousands of dollars!

How to Write Appeal Letter to Bank

Q: My bank card was stolen, and the bank won’t reimburse the money that was stolen out of my account. How do I write an appeal letter? In My ATM Card Was Stolen – Will the Bank Reimburse My Money?, I described what happened to me and how I responded when my bank (TD Canada Trust) said they would not reimburse the money the thieves stole from my chequing account.

Sample Appeal Letter to TD Canada Trust

This is the letter I wrote to the Fraud Department (four days after I faxed it, they called and gave me some very happy news, which I describe in the blog post above).

Dear Ms “Appeal Letter to Bank”,

Thank you for your letter regarding my stolen Access Card. Please reconsider your decision not to reimburse me the stolen monies as an act of customer appreciation, for the following reasons:

I’d done everything in my power to ensure my PIN was not easily accessible to anyone.

TD has been my primary bank for more than 25 years (not consecutively), and I have multiple accounts (mutual funds, a chequing account, and a US savings account). I am a loyal, valuable customer.

RBC is my secondary bank; they cheerfully and immediately reimbursed my loss as soon as it occurred. In fact, John Daniel of RBC called me yesterday to say RBC will reimburse the stolen money.

I want to praise and thank TD Canada Trust for their support and help in several public forums: Twitter, Facebook, and my Quips and Tips blogs. See the following…

“My purse was stolen on August 14, and the thieves stole money out of both my RBC and my TD Canada Trust bank accounts. RBC immediately said they’d take care of it and reimbursed my money…TD finally sent me a letter today, saying they won’t help me out. I’m appealing their decision….fingers crossed they’ll help me out! We could really use the money, now that I’m a full-time student again…”

Writing tweets, Facebook updates, and blog posts that thank and praise organizations for their support and kindness is more my style than lambasting them. I would love to be able to thank TD publicly for helping me out of a tight situation. I don’t want to leave TD, and I don’t want to express my disappointment publicly.

Ms Lampropoulos, I appreciate your time and I understand the position you’re in. But, please reconsider your decision and reimburse the money the thieves stole from me. TD Canada Trust can easily absorb this loss, while my family and I can’t.

Sincerely,

Laurie Kienlen

What I Learned From Writing This Appeal Letter

It’s better to focus on what I did to protect my Personal Identification Number (PIN) from thieves, instead of “threatening” to publicly criticize TD Canada Trust. I don’t think the bank decided to reimburse me because I blog, Tweet, and Facebook.

Banks are victims of theft and fraud, just like humans are. Thieves target banks by pretending that their ATM cards were stolen, and getting reimbursed money that they already pocketed.

The person you’re writing the appeal letter to is an actual human being who sees the underbelly of theft and humanity. The lady from the Fraud Department doesn’t give out her last name, because of threats and invasions to her personal privacy.

Appeal letters to banks who won’t reimburse your money should not be critical or threatening, no matter how angry or frustrated you are.

If you’re writing an appeal letter to a bank, don’t copy what I wrote! Just be yourself, and write from your heart and brain. Get someone you trust to review and edit the letter. Sleep on it before you send it. I wrote my appeal letter in 30 minutes, and faxed it to the bank immediately…but if I had to do it again, I’d sleep on it.

What do you think – have you had to write an appeal letter to a bank? Tips and comments welcome below!

Welcome - I'm glad you're here! I can't give advice, but you're welcome to share your experience below. I'm a writer in Vancouver; my degrees are in Psychology, Education, and Social Work. I live with my husband, two dogs, and cat. We are childless, & have made peace with it. It helps to love Jesus :-)